In an effort to bolster their frontcourt, the Portland Trail Blazers have acquired Jerami Grant from the Detroit Pistons.
Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN originally reported the deal and later added the full terms of the deal, which includes a lot of draft picks being moved.
Detroit swaps 2022 second-round picks — getting 36 for 46 — with Portland, too. Denver gets a 2025 second-round pick back from Portland, and Portland sends the most favorable 2026 second-round pick between Portland and New Orleans to Detroit, sources said. https://t.co/c8M8TlEgoY
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) June 22, 2022
Wojnarowski later clarified that it was Detroit, not Denver, getting a 2025 second round pick back from Portland.
Bobby Marks of ESPN added that Grant’s salary will go into the trade exception from when the Blazers dealt CJ McCollum.
The $20.02M Grant salary goes into the $20.8M trade exception that Portland created in the CJ McCollum trade.
He is eligible to sign a 4 year/$112M extension six months after the trade is finalized.
Grant will be on an expiring $20.95M salary in 2022/23. https://t.co/7e9l6ogywy
— Bobby Marks (@BobbyMarks42) June 22, 2022
The general feeling in the immediate aftermath of the deal was that Portland got the better of things.
So, if I'm following correctly, Pistons get:
– a very bad future first
– move up 10 spots in the second round
– a future OK/good secondI would have thought Grant was worth more than that https://t.co/WotYgiL3Ac
— Alex Rikleen (@Rikleen) June 22, 2022
I'd say a huge win for the Blazers here, Grant is an excellent player and it's not a coincidence Denver made the WCF the only season he was there. Great pick up for Portland #RipCity https://t.co/frAoKp3srC
— Austin J. White (@ajw_sports) June 22, 2022
This is a pretty rough haul for Grant, IMO https://t.co/UP0VcVrNWj
— AK Lingus (@aklingus) June 22, 2022
Boy this feels like one of those old Kupchak trades where everyone wonders how he pulled it off. Portland gets their big 3&D wing without giving up their first round pick this year. GREAT trade for Portland! https://t.co/Ipn40kllAc
— Ronald Clark (@JournalistClark) June 22, 2022
Though, there were some NBA fans who didn’t necesarilly feel that way.
Well, it’s finally over. Can’t say that it’s the most satisfying trade but 43$ million in cap space has to be for something 👀 https://t.co/I5lqQetf9I
— PistonPowered (@PistonPowered) June 22, 2022
A 1st + two 2nds for Grant, image if the Milwaukee 1st will have pretty light protections on it. I think that's probably decent value for an expiring Jermai Grant, people criticised Weaver at the time for the signing and they flipped him into some value https://t.co/LSr3TS5oVQ
— James Plowright (@British_Buzz) June 22, 2022
Grant will be leaving a team that was one of the NBA’s worst in the 2021-22 season but going to another. The Pistons were 23-59 last season while the Blazers were 27-55. Portland was also the fourth-worst team in both points per game and points allowed per game.
Grant is coming off of the best two scoring seasons of his career. He averaged 22.3 points per game for Detroit during the 2020-21 season and 19.2 per game in the 2021-22 season. Over those two seasons, he shot 42.8% from the field, 35.3% on threes and 84.2% on free throws. He also averaged 4.4 rebounds, 2.6 assists and 1.1 blocked shots per game over the two seasons with the Pistons.
[Adrian Wojnarowski, Bobby Marks]
